Closing the Medication Loop

The Problem

Norwalk Hospital was an early developer and user of health information technology. In recent years, its patchwork of unrelated, home-grown systems was becoming outdated. It was faced with a decision to modify its systems or replace them with a commercial product

The Solution

Encouraged by a group of its physicians that was interested in harnessing IT to improve care and safety, Norwalk began building the foundation for a more robust and integrated IT system using Cerner technology. Unlike other hospitals that have taken a fast-track approach to rolling out electronic health records and other clinical IT, Norwalk took its time piecing together and rolling out a closed-loop system that includes CPOE, medication barcoding with pharmacy robot and an EHR.
What Norwalk did not do was an overhaul of the entire medication administration process. Instead, they examined the current process and added IT solutions to already established process in order to improve patient care. 'We really do well moving incrementally,' says Lewis Berman, MD,chief medical informatics officer and director of critical care medicine. 'We knew we could have a positive impact without changing a single process.'